Individuals applying for fellowships and scholarships must be (unless otherwise specified):
• Australian citizens currently resident in New South Wales, or
• persons holding permanent residence visas who have been residents of New South Wales for two consecutive years immediately prior to the date of their application.
In general, previous recipients of Arts NSW’s fellowships and scholarships are ineligible to apply for the same award twice.
Applications will not be considered from previous recipients:
• who have not fulfilled the conditions of an Arts NSW (previously Ministry for the Arts) grant, fellowship or scholarship,
• whose use of a grant, fellowship or scholarship did not, in the opinion of the Peer Group Committee, conform to the spirit and intentions of these guidelines, or
• who have not acquitted or satisfactorily acquitted prior Arts NSW (previously Ministry for the Arts) grants, fellowships or scholarships.
Fellowships and scholarships are:
• not intended to meet costs associated with a project or program that has already been substantially completed
• generally not available to assist the completion of degree theses or university or college projects undertaken to gain formal qualifications
• not to be applied towards the cost of items and materials already purchased at the time an application is lodged.
Fellowships and scholarships are usually awarded to an individual, although joint applications may be accepted under certain circumstances. Inquiries should be directed to the relevant Arts NSW program staff.
How are fellowship and scholarship and award applications assessed?
Fellowships and scholarships, except where noted otherwise, are assessed by independent judging committees.
What are the requirements for payment?
GST
Applicants should not gross up their requests to cover GST. If you are registered for GST and have signed a recipient-created tax invoice (see below), Arts NSW will automatically gross up the amount requested to cover the GST obligation in the case of an application being successful. If you have not signed a recipient-created tax invoice (RCTI), you must issue Arts NSW with a tax invoice if your application is successful.
If you are registered for GST, your income and expenditure amounts in your budgets should be exclusive of GST. If you are not registered for GST, your expenditure amounts should include the GST to be paid.
Successful applicants without an Australian Business Number (ABN) can expect to have 48.5 per cent of their grant withheld by Arts NSW, and will need to demonstrate how their project would proceed at a reduced level of funding.
Recipient-created tax invoices
Applicants registered for GST are encouraged to enter into a recipient-created tax invoice agreement with Arts NSW to expedite payment of a successful application. If you are a first-time applicant, or have recently become registered for GST, please download a recipient-created tax invoice agreement or contact Arts NSW for a form to be sent to you. Complete two copies of the form, and sign and return both to Arts NSW with your application.
Electronic funds transfer payments
To facilitate the payment of fellowships and scholarships, Arts NSW, where possible, pays recipients through electronic funds transfer (EFT). If Arts NSW does not already have your current bank account details, please download an electronic funds transfer payment form or contact Arts NSW for a form to be sent to you. Complete one copy of the form, and sign and return it to Arts NSW with your application.
Please note: Electronic funds transfer payments information will be handled according to Arts NSW’s Privacy Policy. It will be seen by relevant Arts NSW staff and, if the application is successful, it will be forwarded to the Finance section of the NSW Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation, which processes grants payments for Arts NSW.
What conditions apply to recipients of funding?
Some scholarships or fellowships may have additional special conditions.
• Successful applicants for funding will be required to formally accept the funding by signing and returning their conditions form to Arts NSW. The form may include conditions not specified in these guidelines.
• The funding may be used only for the purpose approved by the Minister. In exceptional circumstances, applicants are required to apply in writing to Arts NSW for a variation of their grant conditions before proceeding.
• Projects or travel undertaken as a result of the awarding of a fellowship or scholarship should commence within 12 months of the receipt of notification of the award. In special circumstances the time may be negotiated between Arts NSW and the successful applicant.
• Applicants must agree to refund promptly to Arts NSW any portion of a grant unspent at the conclusion of the activity for which the funding was made, or at the date of winding up or dissolution of an organisation.
• Funds may be withdrawn if a successful applicant fails to comply with any of the conditions specified here or any special conditions imposed for a fellowship or scholarship.
• All funding must be appropriately acknowledged in printed material and in any published work or promotional material associated with a fellowship or scholarship and, where appropriate, on website homepages. Acknowledgements should make reference to Arts NSW, in accordance with the Arts NSW branding and style guidelines available on our website. Funded organisations should provide a hotlink to Arts NSW’s website on their homepages.
• Fellowships and scholarships must be appropriately acquitted in line with Arts NSW’s How to Acquit Guidelines. Copies are available here or by calling 02 9228 5533 or 1800 358 594 (NSW).
What is required to acquit a fellowship or scholarship?
At the end of the period for which the fellowship or scholarship is made, the recipient is required to submit a report, using the How to Acquit Guide, outlining how the funds were spent and giving an account of the artistic benefits or initiatives made possible by the funding.
Fellowship or scholarship recipients are required to provide reports to the assessment committees on the progress of the project, usually at six-monthly intervals, as well as a final artistic and financial report.
Fellowships, scholarships, except where noted otherwise, are assessed by independent judging committees appointed by the Minister for the Arts. These committees make recommendations to the Minister for the Arts.
At the discretion of the judging committee, applicants may be asked to attend an interview about a project or proposal. A judging committee may recommend that a fellowship, scholarship or award not be awarded if, in its opinion, applicants do not reach a satisfactory standard.
Except where indicated, all applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application when the decision is announced by the Minister.
The Minister’s decisions will be final and no discussion or correspondence will be entered into concerning those decisions.
Applications by people with a disability
In accordance with its Disability Action Plan, Arts NSW is committed to addressing any difficulties people with a disability may have in accessing Arts NSW and the services it provides.
If you have a disability and you are unable to make an application in the usual way, or you need other assistance because of that disability, please contact Arts NSW on 02 9228 5533. Callers who are deaf, or have a hearing impairment or a speech/communication impairment, may call through the NRS using modem or textphone (TTY) by dialling 1800 555 677 and then asking for 1800 358 594.
Personal information and privacy
Arts NSW is required to comply with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. Arts NSW collects the minimum personal information to enable it to contact an organisation and to assess the merits of an application. An application may be hindered if you do not supply the information requested.
Applications with associated personal details are accessible by Arts NSW staff, members of the Peer Group Committees, staff of the Minister for the Arts and the Minister. Bank account details relating to electronic funds transfer payments are accessible by relevant Arts NSW staff and to staff of the Finance section of the Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation. All staff are bound by privacy laws.
Personal information obtained from applications or otherwise provided to Arts NSW may be retained on Arts NSW’s database and used to advise applicants of arts-industry related information in the future. Please notify Arts NSW if you do not wish to be on this mailing list.
Applicants must ensure that people whose personal details are supplied with their applications (including artists whose CVs are supplied) are aware that Arts NSW is being supplied with this information and of how this information will be used by Arts NSW.
In accordance with privacy legislation, in cases where Arts NSW has been requested to provide information about arts organisations to a third party, Arts NSW will provide only general contact details. It will disclose the names of individuals associated with the organisation only if these are publicly available.
For inquiries about personal information, please contact Arts NSW. See the inside front cover of this booklet for contact details.
Freedom of information
The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1989 apply to documents in the possession of Arts NSW. Under some circumstances, a copy of the Application Form and other material supplied by the applicant may be released, subject to the deletion of exempt material, in response to a request made in accordance with the Act.